Microsoft's 25th-anniversary Xbox will reportedly cost $899.99 — nearly $900 for a console with the same internals as the $799.99 model, pricing working families out of what used to be affordable home entertainment.
The leaked price confirms what households already feel: everything costs more, and the premium is often just cosmetic. According to leaker billbil-kun, the Xbox Series X25 will launch November 27 — Black Friday — at €899.99 in Europe and $899.99 in the U.S. That is a $100 markup over the standard Xbox Series X, which itself sits at $799.99 after its own recent price hike. Both Polygon and Notebookcheck confirmed the leak.
Here is the catch: the X25 offers no performance upgrade over the standard 1TB Xbox Series X. The extra $100 buys you a translucent green case inspired by the original 2001 Xbox and a 25th-anniversary logo on the front. That is it. Same processor, same storage, same everything under the hood. Polygon noted the price matches Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro after Sony's March price increases — so both major console makers are marching the same direction.
The special edition does come bundled with a matching green controller featuring the original Xbox's ABXY button color scheme, with one bumper white and one black as a callback to the classic black-and-white buttons. That controller sells separately for $79.99, also per billbil-kun's reporting. Notebookcheck added that more details may come during Gamescom 2026, though Microsoft has not officially confirmed the leaked price or date.
The broader picture matters more than the console war. When the original Xbox launched in 2001, it retailed at $299. Adjusted for inflation, that is roughly $530 today — still well below the $799.99 base price of the current Series X, and far below the $899.99 anniversary edition. Gaming was once the affordable alternative to nights out — a one-time hardware purchase that kept the family at home. Now a console alone approaches four figures before you buy a single game, a subscription, or an extra controller.
Microsoft is not alone in pushing prices higher. Sony hiked the PS5 Pro earlier this year. Nintendo has held the line on Switch pricing but is widely expected to raise it with its next hardware. The console market is testing how much the middle class will absorb before it walks away.
The question is not whether a translucent green Xbox is worth $900 to collectors. It is how many families look at that price tag — during a holiday shopping season already stretched by grocery costs and energy bills — and simply check out.
